Women's health research : progress, pitfalls, and promise /

This report should be in every academic library. It features thorough discussions and evaluations of women's health research beginning with the premise that women's health is affected by behavioral factors shaped by cultural and societal contexts including disadvantages due to race, ethnicity, education, income, and stressors such as violence. It reviews nine important health conditions with major research progress (cardiovascular disease; breast and cervical cancer); some progress (depression, HIV/AIDS); and little progress (unintended pregnancy, maternal mortality/morbidity, alcohol- and drug-addiction disorders, and some gynecological cancers other than cervical cancer). Included are succinct discussions of incidence, prevalence, and mortality; disparities among groups; research advances in knowledge of biology, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment; and research gaps. Reasoned comments follow about the effects of research funding from government and consumer advocacy groups, along with recommendations for increasing scientific attention to additional conditions affecting women and identification of ways to reduce disparities among subpopulations of women. Final chapters evaluate methodological issues in women's health research and ways to convey new information to women, providers, and public health practitioners. Selected studies of women's health appear on a CD (appendix C). Extensive references follow every chapter. This publication is freely available on the Web . Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. M. K. Snooks formerly, University of Houston--Clear Lake